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This past weekend, uOttawa Quidditch competed in World Cup VI, the International Quidditch Association’s annual international quidditch championships. Held in Kissimmee, Florida, World Cup saw 80 of the world’s best teams face off against each other in a week of tough competition and camaraderie.

uOttawa came into the tournament an underdog, one of the few Canadian teams in attendance as a result of most schools (including uOttawa) writing final exams during the time of the World Cup. Reaching the World Cup was a difficult road: first the team had to work hard to qualify at the Canadian Regional Championships last November in Kingston, where they placed second. Then, the team had to defer dozens of exams and study months in advance so that they would be able to spend the weekend in Florida. Thirdly, the team invested in an online fundraiser, was given generous support by the University of Ottawa through the SFUO clubs fund, the Office of Allan Rock, and the School Spirit Council. Without these generous funds in addition to their own money, uOttawa Quidditch would never have been able to attend the World Cup.

uOttawa Quidditch sings the Canadian national anthem at the opening ceremonies. Credit: Isabella Gong

While in Florida, several members of the team participated in a media scrum the Friday morning before World Cup – we invite you to peruse our updated Media section for pictures and news articles about the event.

Although the team lost our first game of pool play 70*-50 on Saturday in a snitch snatch to the NAU Narwhals, we came back with a solid win against the Boston Riot. Before our game against Marquette, the winners of the Midwestern Regional Championships, we passed around a flask of maple syrup. The taste of the homeland propelled us to a 110*-50 win over Marquette. Our final game of pool play came against Florida State University in an intense evening match where we were ultimately victorious 140*-80.

We started bracket play against Southwest Regional Champs Baylor University. In a frustrating-but-fun game, we ultimately lost 80-30* and were eliminated from the tournament. Baylor is an incredibly talented team and went on to lose to UCLA in the semifinals. You can see the full bracket and champions here.

Despite our exit in the Round of 32, uOttawa is proud of our showing the World Cup, particularly since 50% of our competitive team is either in their first year of university or their first year of playing quidditch. This bodes well for future competitions, as we will only continue to improve. We were honoured to represent Canada and the University of Ottawa on the world stage, and look forward to competing more broadly next year.